Politics|Senator Persists Battling Health Law, Irking Even Many in His Own Party

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Senator Persists Battling Health Law, Irking Even Many in His Own Party

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Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, spoke for 21 hours about the budget and the health law before the Senate voted unanimously to end debate Wednesday afternoon.CreditCreditGabriella Demczuk/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Facing an increasingly likely defeat in his tangled procedural fight over funding the government, Senator Ted Cruz took to the Senate floor on Tuesday and declared he would speak “until I cannot stand” to rally voters against the health care law.

While the Senate appeared ready to override him in a preliminary vote scheduled for Wednesday, Mr. Cruz, a freshman Republican from Texas, pressed ahead hour after hour with his opposition, comparing his fight to efforts by leaders who stood against the Nazis, ended the cold war or started the American Revolution.

“Everyone in America knows Obamacare is destroying the economy,” said Mr. Cruz, who began speaking at 2:41 p.m. and was still at it after 5 a.m.. “Where is the urgency?”

Yet outside the chamber, his colleagues worked against his efforts to block a vote to take up the House-passed bill that does precisely what he wants: financing the government through mid-December while cutting off money for the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Cruz called on his colleagues to stonewall the measure they technically supported, arguing that Senate Democrats would be successful in stripping the health care provision from the funding bill once the way was cleared to a Senate vote on the issue. His basic demand was an agreement that a final vote require 60 supporters, a demand Democrats rejected.

Other Republicans said they saw no reason to oppose debating a measure they actually backed.

“We’d be hard-pressed to explain why we were opposed to a bill we’re in favor of,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.

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Sen. Ted Cruz walked to the senate luncheon at the Capitol on Tuesday.CreditGabriella Demczuk/The New York Times

Others warned of political repercussions if Republicans, who hope to regain control of the Senate in next year’s elections, were seen as contributing to a shuttering of the government. “Getting the majority in the Senate in 2014 is possible, and we don’t want to go down roads that make it harder,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who is up for re-election next year. “Repealing Obamacare is a goal all Republicans share,” he added, “but the tactics of achieving that goal can have a backlash.”

Mr. Cruz’s lonely stand was not technically a filibuster. The first vote in a long process to get to a final showdown is set for Wednesday, and Mr. Cruz cannot head off that vote. And only a handful of Republicans are expected to join him in voting against taking up the House bill.

“There will be no filibuster today,” said Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader.

Senior Senate Republicans pushed Mr. Cruz on Tuesday to give up his stalling tactics and let the Senate take its final votes as soon as possible to strip out the health care language and other policy prescriptions, then approve new language to keep the government operating until mid-November. An early vote would give Speaker John A. Boehner more time to plan his next move: Whether to put the Senate-passed bill up for a vote and ensure no government shutdown or to add new Republican-favored language and send it back to the Senate.

If Mr. Cruz persists and forces the Senate to exhaust the time allowed for the necessary votes, the final vote cannot happen until Sunday.

“I don’t know who else in the conference may feel differently, but I do know if the House doesn’t get what we send over there until Monday, they’re in a pretty tough spot,” Mr. McConnell said.

Some Senate Republicans suggested a quick vote on a stopgap spending measure could allow the House to attach a measure related to the Affordable Care Act but one that could split Democrats and possibly become law. The obvious target would be a tax on medical devices that helps finance the law, but which has strong opponents in both parties. House Republicans are also considering adding a one-year delay in the individual mandate.

Such procedural niceties carried little weight with the conservative activists backing Mr. Cruz, and the conservative advocacy groups egging them on. Phone lines were jammed by Cruz supporters. E-mails flew, encouraged by organizations like the Tea Party Patriots and the Heritage Foundation. The Senate Conservative Fund, a group that has been running advertisements attacking Republicans who are not supporting the “defund Obamacare” effort, called Mr. McConnell and the No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, “turncoats.”

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Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, spoke on the Senate floor about alternatives to a government shutdown.CreditCreditJ. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

But most Republicans showed little fear of a backlash for voting to take up the House bill. “If this is what you wanted, consideration of this bill, I don’t know how you can be against taking it up,” said Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina.

Mr. Reid moved Tuesday to change the House-passed bill, shortening the stopgap spending measure so it would finance the government only through mid-November instead of mid-December. Senator Barbara Mikulski, the Maryland Democrat who leads the Appropriations Committee, requested the change to raise pressure on the House to address the automatic spending cuts that are squeezing federal programs and are reflected in the spending plan passed by the House.

But such narrow issues took a back seat to Mr. Cruz’s crusade, with bit parts granted to his Senate Republican supporters. They included Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Pat Roberts of Kansas, David Vitter of Louisiana, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Rand Paul of Kentucky, whose own filibuster this year over the government’s use of lethal drone strikes lasted 12 hours and 52 minutes.

Topics Mr. Cruz addressed included his affection for the little hamburgers at White Castle, the fast-food chain that says its growth is slowing because of the health care law, and a tough-love speech by Ashton Kutcher. He doled out insults to the Washington establishment, blasting politicians in “cheap suits” and “bad haircuts,” and branding journalistic fact-checking as a “particularly pernicious bit of yellow journalism.” At one point, he read some of his daughters’ favorite stories, including “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss.

Under the current timetable, the Senate will vote Wednesday to cut off debate on a motion to take up the House bill and vote Thursday to actually take up the House bill. Mr. Reid will then introduce his version of the stopgap spending bill, stripped of the health care language and other policy measures.

The real showdown vote will probably come on Saturday, when the Senate votes to cut off debate on Mr. Reid’s version of the bill. If that receives 60 votes, a final vote would come on Sunday, leaving the House one day to act before much of the government closes its doors.

That would give Mr. Boehner a stark choice: pass a short-term spending bill with Democratic votes and risk the wrath of conservative activists or try again to take a bit out of the health care law with no time left on the clock and ensure a shutdown.

“I don’t know what all the scenes are, but I’ve seen how this movie ends,” said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. “We will end up not shutting the government down, and we will not defund Obamacare.”

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 19 of the New York edition with the headline: Senator Persists Battling Health Law, Irking Even Many in His Own Party. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe